The State Business Tax Climate Index, now in its 9th edition, collects data on over a hundred tax provisions for each state and synthesizes them into a single easy-to-use score. The states are then compared against each other, so that each state's ranking is relative to actual policies in place in other states around the country. A state's ranking can rise or fall significantly based not just on its own actions, but on the changes or reforms made by other states.

Why New York is at the bottom:

Despite moderate corporate taxes, New York scores at the bottom this year by having the worst individual income tax, the sixth-worst unemployment insurance taxes, and the sixth-worst property taxes.

The other members of the bottom five, in ascending order: New Jersey, California, Vermont, Rhode Island. The top five, in descending order: Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska, Florida.

The full report is embedded after the jump.

It's no secret that New York could have lower taxes -- the property taxes alone in some municipalities are crushing. But just out of curiosity, we thought it might be interesting to compare the Tax Foundation's list against a list GDP per state...

State GDP vs. tax index rank

GDP figures (actually, Gross State Product) are for 2010 and from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis and were pulled from the listing in Wikipedia. The Tax Foundation ranks are for fiscal year 2013. Your mileage may vary.

Tax Foundation report

Comments

These types of scales are practically useless for a variety of reasons, most notably because they're defining a positive "business climate" as "ability of owners to maximize profits and minimize collective responsibility."

I also wonder how this scale measures up to availability of skilled and professional labor, quality of life, and available state services.

When AOA writes "just out of curiosity, we thought it might be interesting to...," you know you're in for a thought-provoking post. Thanks for taking a closer look at the Tax Foundation index, especially when other media just rehash the press release.

Only taking taxes into account does not give an accurate picture of overall "business climate." For example, south dakota, montana, wyoming and utah are ranked high, yet no one would exactly say they have a "great business climate."

Your comparison is complete bunk since tax policy can change immediately, while its wealth-destroying ramifications may take decades.

Compare this business climate ranking to a ranking of internal US immigration, and you'll find just as strong of a correlation showing that taxes = people leaving.

Taxes are literally destroying new york state from the inside out, so if you want to make some kind of half-baked political statement in defense of a shitty business climate, just make sure you know where those policies are inexorably leading us. And would the last to leave please turn off the lights?

I do find it ironic, though, that the Tax Foundation describes itself as "informing Americans about the size of tax burdens," yet it does not share in those 'burdens' because it's an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that pays no taxes.

I'd also like to point out another reason why low taxes don't equal growth. Wisconsin, north carolina, and minnesota are some of the fastest growing states in the country and yet they all are in the "most-taxed" braquet.

Meanwhile, florida and nevada, which have low taxes, are still in a housing crisis to this day.

for every one person who leaves nyc, there are 3 kids fleeing the low taxes and conservative morality of the south and midwest waiting to replace them. the population of nyc area is continuing to expand. how does that fit into the argument of high taxes causing population to leave when our population is expanding? New York has always been a gateway to this country. as someone moves out, throughout history to this day, even more people have arrived to move in.

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